Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
However, the Reaper had forcefully extinguished the fire in his heart.
“During this period of time, you are not allowed to go anywhere. You are to stay in the servant camp and cultivate until the Game of the Brave ends and the Blood Hoof Army completes its assembly!”
The Reaper was uncharacteristically stern as he spoke to the rat youth.
“But, why?”
Leaf really did not understand. “Reaper, you are also a rat, and you are so powerful. In the past, you have always looked down on the warriors of the Blood Hoof Clan. Why aren’t you interested in the Big-horned Rat God’s arrival at all this time?
“Don’t you want to get rid of the d*mned clan warriors? Don’t tell me that you want to be the Blood Hoof Clan’s lackey for the rest of your life and not fight for your clan as well as ancestral spirit?”
“I’ve explained this logic to you many times.”
The Reaper replied to the rat teenager, “Firstly, the fate of the rat people rebelling against injustice and belief in the Rat God are two completely different things.
“Secondly, even if you believe in the Rat God, how do you know that the Rat God’s emissary will come to Black-corner City and save all the rat people?
“Thirdly, even if the Rat God’s emissary really comes to Black-corner City and is willing and able to save a large number of rat people, he will have to pay a terrible price. Many people will die in the face of the big clans’ crazy counterattacks, won’t they?
“Don’t get me wrong. I don’t doubt your spirit of sacrifice. However, if you wave your skinny limbs and drag your weak body, you will rush toward the clan warriors’ totem armor like moths to a flame. Such a sacrifice is meaningless.
“If you believe in the Rat God’s existence and are eager to change your fate and all the rat people’s, then you should work hard to cultivate and become stronger. Only then can you play a vital role in the rat people’s cause in the near future!”
In order to strengthen his opinion, the Reaper also told Leaf a story.
“A long, long time ago, there was an extremely powerful and prosperous empire. Well, it was even more brilliant than the empire that rules the land of Holy Light now.
“It was a pity that even the empire that was as brilliant as the stars in the sky would gradually decline and perish one day.
“When the empire was in its twilight, the empire that used to be brilliant was riddled with problems that could not be reversed.
“The eunuchs in the palace and the brothers of the empress fought each other. They supported and killed the young emperors who were still infants. Natural disasters and man-made disasters occurred everywhere. Some places were plagued by floods, and some places were plagued by droughts year after year. Almost all the places were afflicted by plagues.
“However, the tyrannical soldiers were more terrifying than floods, droughts, and plagues. The common people were suffering unspeakably.
“Although the people at the bottom of the imperium were not called ‘rat people,’ they were actually living a life worse than rats and ants.
“Of course, unless they were skeleton soldiers who were never tired and had no consciousness, no living human being could live like rats for a long time.
“The bottom-class citizens of the imperium, under the leadership of the deities they believe in, rose up against the decaying imperium in an attempt to fight their way out of the natural disasters and man-made disasters.
“They dyed strips of cloth yellow and wore them on their foreheads as a symbol of their common enemy. They shouted, ‘The black night sky has collapsed, and the golden dawn will come.’ Like surging tides, they rushed toward the rulers who used to be high and mighty.
“They really broke the foundation of the empire’s rule, causing the once invincible and huge empire to collapse. It was completely destroyed not long after.”
Leaf was entranced by his words.
The young rat farmer, who grew up in a remote village and was not well-informed, had never heard of such a powerful and glorious empire in the world. There was actually such a group of fearless and incomparably glorious heroes…
“The black night sky has collapsed. The golden dawn will definitely come!”
What an inspiring slogan, and how suitable it was for the rat peasants to shout at the top of their lungs. It would come from the depths of their throats, which were hotter than a furnace!
“What happened after that?”
Leaf was fascinated by the Yellow Scarves, who were “rats and ants” yet able to destroy an empire. He could not help but ask, “Did they find a way to survive?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
The Reaper sighed and said, “It’s one thing to destroy the old world, but it’s another to build a new world. The latter is at least ten times more difficult than the former.
“Although the Yellow Scarves destroyed the foundation of the old empire, the counterattack of the old forces also suppressed them. The old empire, which had been torn apart, obviously could not be turned into a peaceful new world in an instant. Countless experts, nobles, warlords, ambitious people, and executioners feasted on the corpses of the old empire like a group of hungry ghouls.
“After the corpse-eating dogs had filled their stomachs slightly and recovered some of their strength, they immediately began to fight and kill each other, trying to swallow each other down.
“This kind of battle lasted for almost a hundred years, and the corpse-eating dog that was lucky enough to win did not gain much. The hundred years of war severely damaged its body, so much so that it could not resist the invasion of foreign enemies.
“When the barbarians marched in from all directions of the old empire, the people who had suffered from the hundred years of war did not know that they would continue to suffer the darkest and bloodiest torture for hundreds of years! What if they used to live like rats, but in the hundreds of years after that, when the jackals ruled, the demons danced, and the hell tortured them, they could not even be rats if they wanted to?!”
“This…”
Leaf keenly sensed that the Reaper was not making up a story to deceive him.
Judging from the Reaper’s sighing expression and sorrowful eyes, such a brilliant and glorious empire had once fallen into resistance, causing his subjects to suffer hundreds of years of torture.
However, after pondering for a long time, the rat teenager felt that something was not right.
Since the Reaper had said that the ancient empire was in its final moments and was plagued by natural disasters and man-made disasters, it was not because of the Yellow Scarves’ resistance that caused the empire to fall apart and descend into hell!
“Reaper, do you mean that the Big-horned Rat God’s arrival might cause everyone’s death? In order to avoid Picturesque Orchid Lake’s destruction, should all the rat people be obedient and allow themselves to be slaughtered like pigs and sheep?” Leaf said unwillingly.
Lately, he had learned many profound new words from the Reaper.
Now, he was using these new words on the Reaper.
“Of course I don’t mean that. No matter what the consequences are, the rat people have the absolute right to resist all bullying and enslavement. Even if it really leads to Picturesque Orchid Lake’s destruction and all the rat people will die together with the clan warriors, I think many of the rat people would be willing, right?”
The Reaper patiently said, “Speaking of which, ‘dying together’ is only a last resort in the worst case scenario. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, most of the rat people can survive and live better than before. We have to work tirelessly in this direction, right?”
Leaf thought for a moment, and he admitted that what the Reaper said made sense. “Of course. If we can see hope, no one would want to die. After I exact revenge on the broken-horned Minotaur warrior, I still want to find Anjia and return to the ruins of Half Mountain Village with her to rebuild our home.”
“In that case, the Rat God’s believers can’t be satisfied with being the second Yellow Scarves.”
The Reaper said, “Especially you, Leaf. You are gifted, and you have consumed so much of my efforts. I really don’t want to see you become a small soldier wrapped in a yellow scarf. You shouldn’t shout and rush toward the officers and soldiers, only to be beheaded by an ambitious warlord. I have invested so much time, energy, and resources in you, not to let you squander them like this.”
The rat youth was somewhat convinced by the Reaper.
“Then what should I do now?” he asked humbly.
“Continue to train crazily!” the Reaper said matter-of-factly.
“Always remember that no matter what you want to do, strength comes first.
“When you are weak, be it the clan warriors or the Rat God, anyone can treat you as an insignificant chess piece. No matter how hard you struggle on the blood-stained chessboard, you cannot escape the fate of being controlled by others.
“And when you become stronger than everyone else, even if, I mean even if, the legend of the Rat God isn’t true and there is no such thing as the Rat God, you can still use your own hands to create a true Rat God who’s worshipped by countless people!
“Do you understand?”
The Reaper’s words were a little profound to the rat youth.
However, after two months of interaction, Leaf firmly believed that the Reaper would never lie to him.
In the next few days, Leaf did not care about what happened outside the Blood Skull Arena. Instead, he obediently stayed in the training camp, sweating profusely. He used his crazy training to vomit his guts out to fight against his restless curiosity.
Until today…
Today, the Reaper was not around.
In fact, the Reaper would always appear and disappear mysteriously.
Lady Ice Storm had opened a small room for him next to his ace training ground.
He had been hiding in there all day mysteriously, fiddling with something.
Sometimes, Leaf thought that he was not there. When he wanted to be lazy, the Reaper would appear behind him like a ghost and knock on his head heavily.
Today, however, Leaf was not afraid of the Reaper knocking his head because the rat youth’s progress was faster than the Reaper had expected. He gradually adapted to the high-intensity training. He actually completed the Reaper’s program half an hour earlier.
Now, he could finally swagger out of the training camp and listen to the latest news about Black-corner City and the Rat God!